Ex-CEO of male escort service gets 6 months

Jeffrey Hurant’s case had stirred a debate about rights of LGBT community in US

New York, Aug. 2: The former CEO of a once-popular male escort service website who pleaded guilty last year to promoting prostitution has been sentenced to six months in prison by a judge who said it was necessary to send a deterrent message even though she knows the business did good things for people.

Jeffrey Hurant, who ran the Rentboy.com site, was sentenced by US District Judge Margo K. Brodie in Brooklyn.

“The very thing that is illegal — there is no question it did a lot of good,” Brodie said as she announced the sentence, which included a $7,500 fine.

Mr Hurant said he created the website so sex workers could proceed in a safer manner.

Prosecutors wanted him to serve at least a short term to deter operators of other escort services from similar misconduct, while his lawyers have argued that he deserves no more than probation.

In letters to the court, the lawmakers, civil rights organisations and other supporters have cautioned that a tough sentence could send the wrong message to the gay community.

The case is troubling “because it harkens back to a dark chapter in our nation’s history when the government used its vast resources to target and threaten LGBT adults by exposing their private consensual sexual activity,” wrote state Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat.

Five New York City council members from the LGBT community also signed a letter arguing that “a harsh sentence will serve neither society nor the rehabilitation of Mr. Hurant.” Other letters written last year by two Democratic congressmen from New York, Jerrold Nadler and Sean Patrick Maloney, to the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security questioned whether the agencies had wasted time and resources on pursuing a victimless crime.

Before authorities arrested Hurant and seized the Rentboy site, it had thousands of advertisers paying up to $300 a month, 500,000 visitors a day and revenues of $10 million in the past five years. The business hosted parties and an annual awards show for escorts called the Hookies.

Prosecutors had alleged that Rentboy was the equivalent of an online brothel.

Jeffrey Hurant, who ran the Rentboy.com site, was sentenced by district judge Margo K. Brodie in Brooklyn

Civil rights groups warned that a tough sentence could send the wrong message to the gay community